In the past it has been known to extend piping systems through concrete floors by knocking out holes in the floor and boring such holes after the floor has been formed, and then extending pipes through the floors. After the pipes have been inserted into the holes, workman have had to pour additional material such as more concrete or other caulking material to seal up the spaces between the voids and the pipes extending through the voids. However, such attempts to use concrete or caulk to seal up the spaces has not been effective to future problems down the road such as from water leaks and fires that travel through any void spaces between the floors.
Any water caused by overflowing tubs, leaks, broken water lines, etc., can end up at the tub box, drain and the perimeter of the tub box.
However, the traditional bathtub tub boxes installed in concrete floors underneath the piping system still allow for substantial water leakage. For example, water traveling on a concrete floor toward a tub box has been known to pour into any minute crevice about the perimeter of the tub box. Additionally, water flowing directly into the tub box can overfill the box and also pour into any sized crevice or crack about the perimeter of the tub box. Still furthermore, the exterior perimeter of the main pipe lines still have void spaces that are not fully sealed by extra concrete and/or caulk so that water leaks can still flow downward around the main piping drains that run through the floors.
Any water then flowing downward through the flooring will eventually cause damage to the ceiling and rooms beneath the bathtub. This problem becomes compounded in high rises having multiple bathrooms on each floor, where large amounts of damage often results in costly repairs and exasperation, and downtime for the users of those bathrooms. Furthermore, constant leaks have been known to cause health hazards since undesirable and dangerous mold and bacteria will form around the leak areas.
Additionally, tub boxes have generally been boxes with thin side sides and floors that are may not be durable to last over many years.
Still furthermore, the crevices and cracks about the piping systems in the floors are also a conduit for fires traveling upward through a multi-floor building. Again, current sealing techniques that have included concrete and/caulk do not effectively seal against all void spaces about the main drain lines. In fact fires have often had the opposite effect of shrinking any caulk seals which results in opening of the crevices and voids about the plumbing systems causing a pathway for fires to travel through the floors of the buildings about the pluming systems.
Various types of floor preparing techniques have been proposed over the years. See for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,338,688 to Petty; 4,823,527 to Harbeke; 4,848,043 to Harbeke; 4,888,925 to Harbeke; 4,953,235 to Cornwall: 5,325,549 to Cornwell; 5,953,872 to MacMillian et al.; 6,336,297 to Cornwall; 6,615,860 to Didone et al.; 6,848,227 to Whitty; and U.S. Published Patent Application: 2007/0175649 to Moselle. However, none of these techniques solves all the problems addressed above.
Thus, the need exists for solutions to the above problems with the prior art.